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Vanderbilt concedes defeat
In May, a Tennessee court ruled that Vanderbilt University does not have the right to remove the word "confederate" from a dormitory that has carried the name "Confederate Memorial Hall" since it was erected almost seventy years ago with funding from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Vanderbilt had wanted to remove the word "confederate" from the building because it offended various campus constituencies who felt it amounted to an insensitive glorification of the South's inauspicious slaveholding past; the United Daughters of the Confederacy argued that Vanderbilt had a contractual obligation to conserve the name that had been agreed upon when it made its funding contributions years ago. Vanderbilt vowed to contest the ruling--but the university has now conceded defeat, and will leave the offending name where it is, carved onto the face of the building. Vanderbilt will also be minimizing the prominence and primacy of that name, too, however; on Monday, the university announced that it will not use the word "confederate" when referring to the building in official publications, maps, and public statements. Vanderbilt could have removed the name from the building, and thus expunged it, along with the building's historical origin in a commemorative gesture that has over time become highly politically charged, had the school been willing to repay the money that the United Daughters of the Confederacy had donated to the building. When asked why the school did not foot the $50,000 bill, university spokesperson Michael Schoenfeld said that "We didn't think that was a wise use of Vanderbilt's resources." Vanderbilt plans to address the ongoing strife caused--or perhaps simply crystallized--by the building's name by establishing an annual campuswide event dedicated to reasoned discussion of the Civil War's legacy.
Posted by acta online on July 13, 2005 at July 13, 2005 07:15 AM
Comments
One would think a university had better things to do with its time and money, the issue of inherent dishonesty aside.
Posted by: craig kincaid at January 11, 2008 03:36 PM